The Stories Behind
by DeathandJunkfood
Summary: The Daily Prophet Archives – Vault 34, Filing Cabinet 7, Drawer C. Daily Prophet Obituaries for 1981: Obituaries are cardboard cutouts and the slightly musty scent of rose perfume. They are impersonal, and bland, and they don't come close to capturing the people behind them. A longer look at death. Part of the Falling 'verse.


**_A.N. So someone suggested this - it's basically a closer look at the last chapter of A Rise and Fall, and it goes deeper into the_** ** _obituaries of the various characters. It's a bit sad? Enjoy, and thanks to Miteshbhanushali11 for the idea._**

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 ** _Disclaimer... these characters belong to JKR._**

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 ** _The Daily Prophet Archives – Vault 34, Filing Cabinet 7, Drawer C._**

 ** _Daily Prophet Obituaries for 1981:_**

 ** _Greta Lovegood*: Died January 12_** ** _th_** ** _, 1981:_**

 ** _"Dance, then, wherever you may be"_**

 ** _*Murdered by Death Eaters._**

It was cold, and she was scared. There was a hook in her heart, and it seized and pulled every time she took a breath. So, so cold. She could see flashes of blue behind her eyelids when she closed her eyes. The crawlspace beneath the stairs was dark, except for the slice of light coming under the door. She clapped a hand across her mouth, trying to breathe quietly. Her breath was shaky. Her hands were clammy.

Hot tears were pressing against her eyes, threatening to spill down her cold cheeks. She blinked, and a tear traced a hot path down her cheek before splashing against her thumb.

Outside, the floorboards were creaking.

It was a familiar sound. Once, it had meant family. Friends, coming through the door, laughing. Now it meant terror. She tried to take smaller breaths.

"Where are you, girlie?"

The voice was raspy. And amused.

She said nothing. Her sister would be here soon. Her sister would rescue her.

Greta Lovegood tried to breath.

Until the door was wrenched open and a dark hand grabbed a fistful of her hair.

She swallowed against the pain, determined not to scream.

Because a scream would bring Ellen, and Ellen needed to stay safe.

Camilla would be here soon.

"Look at this ugly little Squib," the man jeered. He was wearing dark robes, and a silver, crudely etched mask was pushed back on his head, baring a flat, brutish face. His hair was greasy.

He seemed to be performing for an invisible audience – the whole thing – Greta's terror, his mocking sneer, the hand in her hair – was all for show. Greta gritted her teeth.

"No begging?"

He sounded disappointed.

"If you begged – I might let you go. I might not even hurt you too badly. I might let you go. After a little play time,"

He peeled back his lips in a grin, exposing yellowed teeth.

Greta spat in his eye.

Ellen was upstairs, asleep. Thank god she was such a heavy sleeper. Normally it annoyed Greta – that when she crawled into bed, Ellen would remain resolutely asleep. Now she was so grateful for it, she almost didn't feel it when he yanked at her hair again.

"Beg," he said.

She just had to stall for long enough for Camilla to arrive.

It had been a difficult childhood. Camilla and Xenophilius and Greta. It had been a _magical_ childhood, in every sense of the word.

The three of them, inseparable until Xen turned eleven. Then Cami turned eleven. And then Greta turned eleven and nothing had happened. She had crawled up to the roof every night, sure that the owl had just gotten lost. It hadn't. (Of course.)

"Beg," he said again, almost spitting his words out.

Greta set her jaw. Cami was on her way.

He raised his wand. She would get here. Green light flashed, and Greta Lovegood fell.

 ** _Buried in St Ottery Catchpole Church. Survived by sister Camilla, brother-in-law Ben, and brother Xenophilius._**

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 ** _Cuthburt, Lucy, Marlene, Benjamin and Sammie McKinnon*: Died July 3_** ** _rd_** ** _, 1981._**

 ** _"Luminous beings are we, not this crude matter,"_**

 ** _*Murdered by Death Eaters._**

"Into the cabinet, come on Sammie."

Her sister, fourteen years old, and more than a match for Marlene in terms of stubbornness, crossed her arms.

"No."

"Sammie – god, you have to take care of Benjamin, he's just a baby, Sammie – he can't-"

"You and mum and dad are staying."

"RUN!"

The scream came from the kitchen, their mother's low pitched, throaty voice. There was terror in it now. Marlene shoved three-year-old Benjamin into Sammie's arms, and shoved them toward the Vanishing Cabinet in the corner.

Green light, flashed from the kitchen and another scream rang out. Their father, this time. And another flash of green.

Marlene closed her heart and her ears. She heard the creak of the cabinet, and relief surged through her. Her knees went wobbly for a moment.

When the Death Eater entered the room, it was glorious chaos. Marlene caught herself grinning as they duelled, dancing over the wreckage as the room was destroyed around them. The green light caught her high on her left shoulder. Marlene stayed alive long enough to feel impossible cold unfurling toward her heart, before she dropped. Her long slender limbs splayed out across the torn up floor.

She never realized that the Vanishing Cabinet had been hit by a stray curse, and Sammie and Benjamin McKinnon lay dead within it.

 ** _Cremated. Survived by none._**

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 ** _Edgar, Tammy, Bliss and David Bones*: Died July 14_** ** _th_** ** _, 1981._**

 ** _"Gone too soon."_**

 ** _*Murdered by Death Eaters._**

The McKinnons had died eleven days ago. An entire wizarding family. Bliss had never been one for fighting. David was the one in the Order. It scared her – her twin, her second half – _at war_. They were twenty one.

He said it was all of them. He said they were all soldiers, that it was her battle too, but it had taken the McKinnons to make Bliss believe it. Marlene had been in her year. She had had a cynical wildness that Bliss had liked, that had made her laugh.

David was shaking her shoulder, blood running down his chin from a split lip and he was whispering ' _Bliss, please_.'

Their parents were huddled in bloody, motionless mounds in the living room, and Bliss could hear footsteps, heavy on the stairs.

 _Bliss, please._

Oh David.

She gave him her hand and she was on her feet and her wand was in her hand and they were back to back and together they were unstoppable but it didn't matter because there were _five_ of them and they had her parents' blood on their hands and Bliss was dancing and David was falling and then she was falling too.

They took four Death Eaters with them, and when the last one left, he was sniffling in an upset sort of way. There might have even been a tear.

 ** _Buried in Mould-On-The-Wold. Survived by sister Amelia and brother Percy._**

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 ** _Benjy Fenwick*: Died July 29_** ** _th_** ** _, 1981._**

 ** _"Once met, never forgotten"_**

 ** _*Murdered by Death Eaters._**

It was a simple mission. So simple. Intercepting a new shipment of Polyjuice Potion and a few poisons. Now he was bleeding out on the floor of the warehouse, his wand lying broken beside him.

There were deep gashes in his stomach and legs, and he tried to breathe slowly. Or maybe he should stand up and end it faster. He fingered the broken edges of his wand, feeling the feathery silk of the unicorn hair.

They had used Sectumsempra – to make it last, they had said. Benjy thought of Kalia and swallowed. She had kissed him goodbye and told him to kill a Death Eater for her. He had laughed, though he had been slightly unsettled by the anger in her voice and the bloodthirsty request.

The puddles of blood around him had started to cool and he knew he should be cold, but all he could feel was a slightly hazy warmth. He closed his eyes.

 ** _Remains unrecovered. Survived by wife Kalia._**

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 ** _Fabian and Gideon Prewett*: Died August 18_** ** _th_** ** _, 1981._**

 ** _"Do not go gentle into that good night, rage, rage against the dying of the light"_**

 ** _*Murdered by Death Eaters._**

"We're not going to die, are we?" Fabian asked.

"Course not."

There was more confidence in Gideon's voice than he really felt. The knowledge that you were going to die was a strange feeling. At least, he thought, slightly morbidly, he wouldn't have to feel it for long.

Five Death Eaters. Fabian, the brave one (the reckless one) was shaking. It was a stand-off, and neither party wanted to move first.

"Scared, boys?" Fabian taunted.

"Fabian," Gideon hissed. "Shut up."

Fabian shut up, and the Death Eaters moved.

Hexes and curses and screams and Gideon couldn't stop moving for long enough to reach Fabian's side and as he fell, he reached out and Fabian tried to catch him and they went down together, hands clasped tight.

It was a Wednesday, and the setting sun had turned the sky as pink as cotton candy.

 **Buried in Godric's Hollow churchyard. Survived by sister Molly and mother Kara.**

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 **Dorcas Meadowes*: Died August 28** **th** **, 1981.**

 **"The song is ended but the melody lingers on"**

 ** _*Murdered by You-Know-Who_**

It happened in her sleep, and as she was dreaming, she saw an emerald green blade sweep through the edge of the sky.

Later, people would wonder if he knew her personally, and what would warrant a visit from Voldemort himself.

 ** _Buried in Hogsmeade. Survived by brother Bertie._**

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 ** _Mary, Liam and Sammie Vale*: Died September 6_** ** _th_** ** _, 1981._**

 ** _"Always loving, always loved"_**

 ** _*Murdered by Death Eaters._**

The pancakes were burning. Mary had come home from the hospital the day before, with little Sammie, (named after Marlene's baby sister, gone two months now, and goddamnit, Mary still missed those two every day.)

Liam's pancakes were the best Mary had ever tasted. He wouldn't let them burn. With Sammie, cradled close in her arms, Mary stepped into the kitchen, frowning. Liam was on the floor, arms flung wide.

She knew he was dead the second she saw him and turned to run –

The light caught her in the side and continued on, hitting Sammie's foot.

She was wearing socks that Lily Evans' had knitted.

 ** _Buried in Hopworthy churchyard. Survived by none._**

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 ** _Caradoc Dearborn*_** **:** ** _Died September 23_** ** _rd_** ** _, 1981._**

 ** _"Fought well"_**

Lark and Penthe were waiting for him at home. Lark had asked him to pick up some fresh bread from the bakery, and it was under his arm, warm and wrapped in crinkly brown paper. He breathed deeply, smiling up at the blue, blue sky. Maybe he would take Penthe to the park later –she loved the swings, and there was some stale bread in the cupboard that she could feed the ducks with.

The curse hit him between the shoulder blades.

 ** _Remains unrecovered. Survived by wife Lark and daughter Penthe._**

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 ** _Anna Rogers*: Died October 5_** ** _th_** ** _, 1981._**

 ** _"I would rather be a superb meteor, every atom of me in magnificent glow, than a sleepy and permanent planet"_**

* ** _Cause of death unknown._**

Every single day without Artemis hurt. Trying to breathe with her gone burned Anna's lungs. Trying to do magic with her gone raced through her fingertips like a grease burn.

She had considered a way out – there was a bottle of Muggle pills in her cabinet, and she knew how many she would need to take. She couldn't though. If there was anything after, if there was a place she would find Artemis again, Anna knew that Artemis would never forgive her.

The place where she was working was a flower shop. She needed to eat, after all. She sold roses – red, pink, white – with a smile that cut like garden shears. She wrapped daffodils in paper printed with inky leaves and she tucked lilies into vases.

In the end, it was a car. It had been dark, and she had been watching the ground at her feet and then there was dizzying pain and a dazzling darkness.

By some strange twist of fate, it had been Artemis' birthday.

 ** _Buried in Upper Flagley. Survived by mother Ellen and father George._**

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 ** _Peter Pettigrew*: Died November 2_** ** _nd_** ** _, 1981._**

 ** _"A true and loyal friend"_**

 ** _*Murdered by Sirius Black._**

We all know how this one ends, don't we? There is screaming, and Muggles running scared, and mists of red against the ground that no one looks at too closely. There are two men, who were boys, who were friends, and one is in tears, his wand shaking in his hand, and one is licking his lips nervously. It ends with an explosion that rips through a quiet street, and in the end, Sirius Black sinks to his knees on blood spattered pavement and sobs.

 ** _Remains unrecovered. Survived by mother Daisy._**

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 ** _A.N. Thank you so much for reading! I hope you enjoyed it, and I would love it if you let me know what you thought._**


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